Black box trading is the real hazard to markets, says Lord Myners

Former City minister believes market volatility down to computer-based black box trading not short-selling Former City minister Lord Myners, an investment industry veteran, has redoubled his attack on high-frequency “black box” share trading, which he believes has exacerbated the record levels of volatility in share prices seen over recent weeks. While regulators in continental Europe have sought to crackdown on the activities of short-sellers – those who bet on the decline in the price of shares – Myners argues that there is a “greater need to address” what he sees as the corrosive impact of high-frequency trading practices. “High-frequency trading appears so detached from the true function of capital markets, but is potentially fraught with hazard. It definitely deserves more attention than either the Financial Services Authority (FSA) or the Treasury has given it,” he told the Sunday Telegraph. Amid mounting doubts over the health of the eurozone, the FTSE 100 index shed 3% of its value on Wednesday, only to gain a total of 6% on Thursday and Friday . Black box trading is a term used when investment strategies are determined by powerful computer algorithms rather than more traditional stock-picking techniques. The capacity of computers to digest large volumes of data in an instant, identifying trends in a market, means that some hedge funds have effectively devolved trading decisions to the black boxes they have created. Programming computers to pounce on fleeting trading patterns, rather than analyse underlying companies, makes for a more-volatile market, critics argue. Two years ago it was estimated that high-frequency trading accounted for up to 70% of all share transactions in New York. In response to a question from Myners last week, the government said a review of computer trading had been established under Treasury minister Mark Hoban last November, though his review committee had only met for the first time last month. Its report is not due to be published until the autumn of 2012. Myners has in recent years campaigned on a raft of issues all of them broadly calling for shareholders to exert more ownership rights over companies. Earlier this year he was appointed UK chairman of Cevian Capital, Europe’s largest activist fund manager. As well as formerly chairing Guardian Media Group, the publisher of the Guardian, his past roles have included that of chairman at investment group Gartmore. He has also been a director of the hedge fund GLG Partners. Financial sector Short-selling Stock markets European debt crisis Banking Financial crisis Global recession Simon Bowers guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 14, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.